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| Alex Honnold in "Free Solo" Photo Credit: Imdb.com |
Now, Vasarhelyi and Chin return with “Free Solo,” a documentary that focuses on a similar subject. It’s every bit as engaging as "Meru," and, just like that film, it's a reminder of what people can do when they're willing to push themselves physically and mentally.
The story follows professional rock climber Alex Honnold who, in June 2017, sets out to become the first person to scale the approximately 3,000-foot-high mountain, El Capitan, in California’s Yosemite National Park. However, he attempts to do so by free soloing, meaning he won’t use any safety gear. This task will soon have him come face-to-face with a danger and arduousness the likes of which he's never experienced.
Throughout the film, we’re given interviews with Honnold, his girlfriend, his mother, and his rock-climbing friends, as they provide us with an idea of what influences Honnold to be the thrill-seeker that he is, all of which provides a considerable amount of dramatic heft and gives a deeper meaning to his goal as we watch him climb. We understand the determination that's going through his mind as he continues to look upward towards the summit, not thinking about anything else but reaching the top. Honnold makes us feel the passion that he has for this climb, showing us that if he doesn't attempt this, he'll regret it. It's an enthralling example of what it's like to test your limits as you pursue a life-threatening task.
The film also shows the intense preparation that goes into Honnold's climb, following him as he scales the mountain (with safety gear) in order to figure out the best way to get through the hardest obstacles. In these scenes, we're given an idea of the amount of perfection that has to be achieved in order to have a safe climb, as just one small mistake could spell disaster, which is an aspect that makes the film all of the more nerve-racking.
The cinematography by Chin, Clair Popkin, and Mikey Schaefer provides gorgeous and intimidating shots of El Capitan, exhibiting the beauty and danger of the mountain. Right from the opening shot, Chin, Popkin, and Schaefer bring us into the peril of Honnold’s task, as we're invited into the film with an overhead shot of him in the middle of his ascent of El Capitan. With this shot, my palms became sweaty and stayed that way for the duration of the film, and you'll almost be swaying in your seat from the dizziness that such heights create.
This is a movie of pure adrenaline, made even more so because this is real footage. Seeing this on a big screen will be of great help in experiencing Honnold’s journey, and it will have you in awe of the stunning vistas that you can see from the mountain. It'll encourage you to venture out and search for a new endeavor, making you realize the things of which you're capable of doing, but didn't know it.
Between "Meru" and "Free Solo," we can see that Vasarhelyi and Chin have a love for capturing the endurance that's within all of us when we go against the challenges that nature presents. Even though we know that Honnold's task is successful, Vasarhelyi and Chin still offer enough tension to have us gripping our armrests for support as we ascend higher and higher with Honnold and the space between us and the ground grows bigger. Similar to “Meru,” what we see in “Free Solo” provides us with an idea of the thrills that are awaiting us right outside our homes.
Once Honnold reaches the top of El Capitan, one of the members of his crew says that he can’t believe what he just witnessed. At the end of this movie, you’ll feel the same way.
Grade: A
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